Four designers from Bengaluru will present their Khadi creations in Jaipur at the first edition of the Rajasthan Heritage Week, which was launched in the City on Friday.
The event, intended to promote traditional textiles, is being organised by Bengaluru-based Prasad Bidappa Associates, the Government of Rajasthan and the Khadi Board. It will be held from December 3 to 5 in Jaipur.
Pavithra Muddaya, Tara Aslam, Manish Saksena, Jason and Anshu are the Bengaluru-based designers who took part in the ‘Handmade in Rajasthan’ project. Along with designers from other parts of the country and abroad, they worked closely with traditional handloom weavers in interior villages in Rajasthan.
What started as a pilot project with Bangladeshi designer Bibi Russell was taken forward on a larger scale after the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje was impressed with the collection she created. At the event on Friday, models showcased Russell’s colourful and fresh creations.
“The intention of the project is to revive our country’s traditional fabric and make it more appealing to the younger generation and for a foreign audience,” Prasad Bidappa, the organiser and chief creative director of the project, said. “Through this initiative, eight national award-winning weavers have been elevated to the status of designers with their creations being exhibited at the Rajasthan Heritage Week. That, according to me, is our biggest achievement,” he added.
Pavitra Muddaya, who runs Vimor, along with her mother Chimi Nanjappa, talked about the challenges she faced in the project. “My Hindi is very poor so communicating with the weavers was a problem.”
Muddaya has been working as a textile revivalist, documenting techniques and providing training to traditional weavers. “The way they work there, the processes, the terminology is very different from how it is in South India. It was an eye-opener for me though I have been working in this field for 40 years,” she added.
“In the past I have worked with Pethanis and Maheshwaris but this was the first time that I worked with something from Rajasthan,” said Manish Saksena who worked with traditional weavers in Kaithoon village in Rajasthan’s Kota district to create 18 sarees.
Produced entirely by hand, it took him and the weavers two months to complete them.
“Two of the people I collaborated with were master craftsmen and it was very humbling to work with them.” he added. His sarees will be sold for Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 a piece.
Tara Aslam, who has a Khadi store in Bengaluru called Nature Alley, created designs for modern travellers inspired by the tribes of Rajasthan, and Jason & Anshu of the label ‘smallshop’ designed eclectic menswear and womenswear.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS – Bengaluru, November 28th, 2015
